Recent needs assessments suggest that difficulties exist in care coordination between emergency medical services (EMS) systems and primary care for injured adolescents with alcohol problems and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This project will implement, evaluate, and disseminate the adolescent trauma support service model program that aims to enhance coordination between EMS systems and primary care/community services.

The study team will be organized into an adolescent trauma support service. The adolescent trauma support service will fundamentally restructure psychosocial care by integrating post-injury medical treatment with alcohol and PTSD detection and treatment. The adolescent trauma support specialists will deliver a stepped collaborative care intervention to adolescents and their families over the 6-12 months post-injury.

Objective 1: To increase rates of connection to primary care providers to 55% for model program adolescents, compared to an anticipated connection rate of 25% in adolescents assigned to standard care, by 2010.

Goal 2: To reduce alcohol consumption over the course of the year after injury.

Objective 2: To reduce rates of alcohol consumption by 25% in adolescents assigned to the model program, compared to adolescents assigned to the standard care, by 2010.

Goal 3: To reduce adolescent PTSD symptoms over the course of the year after injury.

Objective 3: To achieve statistically significant reductions in PTSD symptoms in model program patients, compared to adolescents assigned to standard care, by 2010.

Activities Undertaken to Meet Project Goals:

We propose to implement and evaluate an innovative model program, the adolescent trauma support service, that aims to improve the quality of care for injured adolescents with problematic alcohol use and high levels of PTSD symptoms by enhancing coordination of care between EMS systems and primary care and community services. All injured adolescents ages 12-18 presenting to the Harborview Medical Center with injuries so severe that they require inpatient admission and/or 24 hour observation in the emergency department, will be screened for alcohol use and PTSD. Adolescents who screen into the study will be randomly assigned to the adolescent trauma support service or standard care. Two trauma support specialists will meet each injured adolescent and available family members by the ED gurney or inpatient bedside in order to elicit and address each patient/family's unique constellation of post-injury concerns. Next, the adolescent trauma support specialist will help to coordinate care received within the EMS system with primary care providers. The trauma support specialists will also have the capacity to deliver evidence-based motivational interviewing interventions targeting reductions in adolescent alcohol use. The trauma support specialists will link patients and families to evidence-based PTSD treatment through primary care and community resources. Program evaluation will include a comparison of the outcomes of adolescents randomly assigned to the adolescent trauma support program with those of adolescents assigned to standard care. Adolescents in the model program and standard care will be compared on the presence or absence of post-injury primary care visits and reductions in alcohol use and PTSD symptoms over the course of the year after injury. Nationwide dissemination activities of program evaluation results will include the publication of manuscripts in peer reviewed journals and presentations at national meetings by members of the interdisciplinary collaborative group that includes pediatric, mental health and surgical providers.

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:

12 Years to 18 Years (Child, Adult)

Sexes Eligible for Study:

All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers:

No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

The investigators will screen all English speaking female and male adolescents ages 12-18, who present to Harborview Medical Center with injuries so severe that they require inpatient admission and/or > 24 hour observation in the emergency department.

All patients where both parents and adolescents consent to the study will be enrolled in the study and randomized.

Exclusion Criteria:

Adolescents who have suffered head, spinal cord, or other severe injuries that prevent participation in the baseline interview will be excluded from the protocol.

Patients who require immediate intervention (e.g., self-inflicted injury, active psychosis, mania, and victims of family abuse) will be excluded and referred to the Harborview Inpatient Psychiatric Consult Service.

Patients who are currently incarcerated or are likely to face criminal charges will be excluded.

Contacts and Locations

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Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00619255